This invention relates to a vehicle roof for a passenger car (limousine, coupe, station wagon, van, or minibus) with a roof panel.
Roof load supports are frequently installed on the roof panel of passenger cars of the aforementioned kind in order to transport very different kinds of objects. On passenger cars of the older generation, the fastening arrangement of roof load supports was located on the drip rails (DE 27 10 222 A1), which are no longer common in modern vehicles. The modern arrangement of roof load supports on a vehicle roof generally provides for roof rails, which are permanently attached to a vehicle roof and to which detachable roof load crossmembers can be attached (DE 28 04 588 A1). A roof rail of the cited art usually consists of at least one boom on each side of the roof and at least two railing feet, each of which carries a boom. The booms and feet are stuck together for assembly and the feet are equipped with threaded bolts whose extended ends are fed through borings in the roof panel. Nuts are attached onto the threaded bolts from the other side of the roof panel (DE C4 004 829). The cost of manufacturing a conventional roof rail is considerable, as is its assembly. Well known is the arrangement of fastening two rails along the longitudinal side regions of the roof panel (DE 198 03 232 A1) and fitting detachable roof rail crossmembers to them. Here too, there is a high expense for manufacturing the rails and assembling them with their sealing problems.
To solve this task, it is provided according to invention that the longitudinal sides of the roof panel are designed with materially uniform fixtures, which are shaped upwards from the roof panel, consist of beads issuing upwards, and almost extend across the roof panel""s entire length.
The special advantage of the invention consists of the fact that the fixtures are no longer rails or bars that are separately manufactured and mounted, but integral components of the vehicle roof, designed as the same piece and materially uniform with the roof panel.
The beads issuing upwards can be manufactured at completely neutral cost and in the same working cycle with the forming work of the roof panel, which must be performed anyway, and they provide the additional advantage of stiffening the roof. Due to the fact that the fixtures, which are designed as beads, extend along nearly the entire length of the roof panel, nearly any desired fastening arrangement for the roof load crossmembers is possible along the entire length of the bead.
Fasteners, such as the claws of the roof load crossbeams, can lock to the fixtures with positive fit in that, in the development of the invention, the fixtures feature, at least in the regions of the crossmember/fastening arrangements, impressions that prevent the crossmembers from shifting in the event of an accident.
To prevent deformation or other damage to the fixtures, another further development of the invention provides that the fixtures designed as beads are internally stiffened with formed pieces inserted or infused into them.
To take into account an effort of car manufacturers to make more extensive use of modular components in the future, another further development of the invention consists of that the roof panel, which is designed with fixtures for the fastening arrangement of roof load crossbeams, forms a prefabricated assembly unit in combination with a roofliner attached to it. Here the roofliner may be fitted with a roofliner covering, and/or interior trim paneling, sun visors, inside rearview mirror, interior lighting devices, cabling, control and display units, sliding roof or sunroof and its framework and driving elements, supporting straps, etc. It is recommended that the prefabricated assembly unit feature a connecting configuration that fits the locations of the pillars"" joints and/or the vehicle body""s roof frame.